MZA Associates Corporation
Albuquerque, NM / Dayton, OH / Jupiter, FL

Updated October 7, 2008

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New Additions to MZA Dayton Staff

David Goorskey has a Ph.D. (2005) in MicroElectronics/Photonics and a M.S. degree (2003) in Applied Physics from the University of Arkansas, and a B.S. degree (1996) in Math/Physics from King College, Bristol, TN. For his M.S. Thesis, he studied the nonlinear optics and quantum coherence phenomena (such as electromagnetically induced transparence or EIT) of atomic vapors (such as Rb) in optical cavities. His Ph.D. research focused on the electrical and optical properties of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (also called quantum dots). After completing his Ph.D. work, he worked for three years at Nanomaterials and Nanofabrication Laboratories (NN-Labs) in Fayetteville, AR. His work there concentrated on developing novel electro-optic devices using quantum dots. In particular, he worked on developing CdTe quantum dot solar cells and photo-detectors as well as utilizing a new type of quantum dot (Mn doped ZnSe) as nanophosphors for improving white light emitting diodes (LEDs). He is the author of over 12 peer reviewed publications and has been awarded two SBIR Phase I grants and one Phase II grants.

Marcus Gualtieri was recently awarded his B.S. in Software Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology (May 2008). He finished school working on an office presentation tool called Panther Present, which was programmed on top of the Mozilla Platform. He has already acquired experience writing software in the Wright-Patt area, particularly, at AFRL's Major Shared Resource Center and later at an AFIT optics lab. Over his short professional career he has most commonly written code in Java, C++, Matlab, and C#. Marcus enjoys playing acoustic guitar and can be bribed with chocolate chip cookies. (September 2008)


MZA Dayton at the Crossroads of Research and Technology

MZA Dayton has moved to a new office space as of April 1. We are now located at the intersection of Research Blvd and Technology Ct...hence the motto. This location is just minutes from the R&D centers at Wright Patterson AFB, including the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). We are also a short drive from the University of Dayton's Laser Radar and Optical Communications Institute (LOCI). The new facility provides 6,300 sq. ft of space for offices, conference rooms, optics laboratory, and computing labs. The new optics lab allows us to significantly increase our adaptive optics testing capabilities. While the new conference facility located on-site has room for hosting meetings with up to 40 participants.


The new address, directions with map, and contact information are now available.


MZA Dayton Hosts Adaptive-Optics Laboratory

The Dayton office now hosts an optics laboratory for testing promising AO technologies.  The laboratory hardware includes laser sources, spatial light modulators, optical components, polymer deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, scoring cameras, and support electronics for proving AO beam control approaches previously simulated using WaveTrain.  Our current tests focus on compensation of aero-optical disturbances on aircraft-based lasers using advanced control approaches for directed energy and laser communication applications.  MZA recently added 2 new staff members for Dayton laboratory operations, both graduates of the University of Dayton’s Electro-Optics graduate program.

Richard Drye holds B.S.E.E. (2002, U.D.) and M.S. Electro-Optics (2005, U.D.) degrees with a background in optics, infrared measurements, control systems, MATLAB modeling and graphical-user-interface (GUI) development.  As a research engineer at Mission Research, Richard was a major contributor of analysis tools and GUI’s for MATLAB toolboxes such as SCALE and SHaRE, and ABLPAT (AirBorne Laser Performance and Analysis Toolkit), providing a highly-integrated and comprehensive engagement modeling capability for ABL.  Richard’s work experience includes a position in ATK’s Infrared Measurements Group where he developed/tested infrared targets and made detailed emissivity measurements.  He also assembled a system to control an IR environmental chamber for emissivity/reflectivity measurements and programmed the laboratory control logic.

Jeff Widiker's professional degrees include:  B.S. Engineering Physics (2001, University of Wisconsin-Platteville) and M.S. Electro-Optics (2004, U.D.).  As a co-op student in the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/SN), Jeff developed a novel design method for a high-speed 2-D Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor operating at 1 MHz frame rate, and utilized it to perform simultaneous wave-front and flow diagnostics to study aero-optical effects. At AFRL, Jeff also worked with liquid-crystal based spatial light modulators (SLMs), using them for wave-front manipulation. Jeff continued his work with SLM technology at ATK Mission Research, refining SLM calibration techniques to simulate atmospheric turbulence and other wave-front aberrations in a laboratory setting.  Jeff also served as the optical hardware lead for the combined (RF/EO) aperture program for the Optical Signatures and Sensors group. (November 2007)

 

WaveTrain 2007a is Now Available

In March 2007, MZA began distributing WaveTrain 2007a, the latest release of MZA’s wave-optics modeling system. WaveTrain  2007a incorporates many significant improvements and enhancements including:

·        Compatibility with the Visual C++ .NET Express,  the free version of Microsoft's compiler. This means that you no longer have to purchase a compiler to run WaveTrain.

·        Compatibility with the latest versions of Matlab, although Matlab is not necessarily required to run WaveTrain. Partial compatibility with Octave, the freeware Matlab look-alike.

·        Significantly expanded set of WaveTrain Systems (blocks) and improved System library management capabilities.

·        Significantly improved documentation.

·        New Matlab tools for visualizing WaveTrain outputs.

·        A new version of TurbTool, the Matlab tool for configuring atmospheric components.

·        Numerous new features, bug fixes, and usability improvements.

WaveTrain is available free-of-charge to contractors and government personnel working on U.S. government projects. MZA charges license fees for commercial use and offers a variety of paid support products for both government and commercial users. To obtain WaveTrain 2007, e-mail your complete contact information to wavetrain@mza.com. If you are a government contractor, include the contract number and technical point of contact. Also, don't forget to join the WaveTrain forum. (April 2007)

  

The MZA Forums are Up and Running

 

MZA Forums, a moderated site for discussions on topics relevant to the MZA community is now available. Currently, there are forums covering such topics as WaveTrain, tempus, AOS, and MZA systems.  This is a Beta version.  Please feel free to give feedback -- good and/or bad. Email your comments to forumadmin@mza.com. (June 2006)

 


   MZA and Justin Mansell Team Up to Create Low Cost Adaptive Optics Systems

With the leadership of senior staffer Dr. Justin Mansell, MZA has spun-off Active Optical Systems, or AOS, to fabricate and market low cost adaptive optics systems. Detailed information on the company and its activities can be seen at http://www.activeopticalsystems.com/. (April 2006)


WaveTrain Information

Are you new to WaveTrain? Get an idea of what a WaveTrain adaptive optics model looks like by navigating  the documentation for the Baseline Adaptive Optics and Tracking (BLAT) model. All of the documentation is compiled from the information entered by the model builder as he is building the model. The HTML documentation allows users to traverse the model block diagram in a manner consistent with the actual WaveTrain GUI.

Are you already a WaveTrain user? If you don't have Release 2007a, you should contact us right away.

WaveTrain is available free-of-charge to contractors and government personnel working on U.S. government projects. MZA does charge license fees for commercial use and offers a variety of support products for both government and commercial users. To obtain WaveTrain, e-mail your complete contact information to wavetrain@mza.com. If you are a government contractor, include the contract number and technical point of contact.

 
Employment Opportunities with MZA

MZA and AOS are seeking qualified applicants.  Check out the various openings or download an informational pdf.

 

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